Tag Archives: Hot Topics

For less than $1 thousand a pop, Ukrainians are taking out Russian tanks costing $3 million. For less than $300 thousand a pop, they are taking out Russian warships costing $ billions. Ukraine is doing these things with homemade cardboard drones, store-bought drones, and their roll-your-own mostly-submerged drones. Ukraine’s TLK-150 and TLK-400 submersible drones with 700-1200 mile ranges and up to 500 lb payload cost around $250k apiece. One US...

The New Yorker has an interesting article by Manvir Singh about fad diets, with a focus on all-animal diet as ostensibly the diet best suited to our species. A character who brands himself “The Liver King” specifically endorses grassfed beef liver. The paleo diet industry insists that humans evolved to kill animals and devour their tissues and organs, eating plant matter in desperate circumstances.In reality, the best research we have suggests that...

Initial jobless claims remain higher on a YoY basis, but do not suggest near term recession  – by New Deal democrat Initial jobless claims rose 2,000 last week to 211,000. The 4 week moving average declined -6,250 to 211,000. With a one week lag, continuing claims rose 42,000 to 1.670 million: Although this appears very strong on an absolute scale, we had a very similar sharp decline to new 50 year lows last September as well, which make me...

Before you start to question my titling of this commentary. Women are very much in the minority in this field. There is a forecast of greater job opportunities in this field due to EVs, etc. Read on and we can talk some. By 2030, there Will Be a 30% Shortage of Electricians as reported by Business Insider. Electricians | Data USA Bried Rambling Commentary and the Some Facts If you listen to the TV commentaries, there is a shortage of Labor...

Why the public still views inflation as a major problem, despite the official numbers  – by New Deal democrat This is the topic I indicated last week I wanted to write about more at length.  Paul Krugman wrote last week about the disconnect between most economists, who see inflation declining, and voters, who still see inflation as a major concern. Here’s a couple of his tweets: As I wrote last week, the “shrinkflation” in new homes is very...

I think the main practical point is that pharmacological treatment of opioid addiction is effective and yet not as easily available as it should be. Not all opioid use disorder (OUD) specialized treatment programs offer medication assisted treatment (I have a somewhat out of date report that in 2017 “only … 35.5% offered any single medication for opioid use disorder treatment. ” This is more recent information “ “Though the benefits of...

New 20+ year record high mortgage rates begin to impact home sales; bifurcation in new vs. existing home prices continues  – by New Deal democrat In addition to updated reports on new home sales and prices, and existing home prices this morning, there’s some very important news on mortgage rates. Namely, at 7.51%, mortgage rates are the highest they have been since December 2000. Here’s what they looked like through the end of last week:...

We do not measure the amount of pollution and costs incurring when products are transporting in a way having greater pollution and cost. This as measured against local products. A comment on Lloyd Alter’s piece discusses dough coming from Italy for pizzas? “I’m less concerned about this than that our major grocery chains. Currently, PC (store) has a “Hand Tossed in Italy” brand of pizza. So Canada ships our wheat to Italy to be processed, turned...

Hmm. Maybe Trump *does* have a point about the lying press after all. Here’s the Reuters headline:“Biden, Trump to woo union workers in Michigan as auto strikes grow”So where are Trump and Biden going to woo union workers?“Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit a Macomb County automotive supplier of engine and transmission parts Wednesday, the day after President Joe Biden is set to visit a United Auto Workers picket line in Wayne...

Weekly Indicators for September 18 – 22 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. With interest rates at or near multi-decade highs, and the existing home market completely seized up, the background financial condition have trended even worse. Meanwhile the shorter term indicators may be getting reading to peak. But their previous sharp increase has worked its way into most of the coincident...